


Unread

by heckinamanda



Category: Andi Mack (TV)
Genre: M/M, but who isn't lbr, cyrus is an Overthinking Gay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-27
Updated: 2018-10-27
Packaged: 2019-08-07 11:40:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16407809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heckinamanda/pseuds/heckinamanda
Summary: TJ won’t respond to Cyrus’ text.





	Unread

**Author's Note:**

> hello!! this is another fic in an exchange with @1302dillywomps!!  
> honestly thanks for doing these with me, they're so fun. my favorite thing about them is coming up with new ideas that I might not have thought of before based off of the info that you give me (also! talking to you about everything!! I've never had a writing buddy or anything before so this is just super cool!)

_TJ, I like you._

The message stared Cyrus in the face. It feels like he sent it years ago. Of course it did when there’s no response. It’s like he’s talking to himself.

He leaned back on his bed and put his arm over his forehead. His head and heart were pounding.

He won’t respond. Of course he won’t respond! With any of Cyrus’ luck, he won’t talk to him ever again. He probably thinks he’s weird.

Cyrus groaned as he rolled over on his bed. This is ridiculous. Should he send another text? No, that’ll make it worse. He’s probably just busy. 

His rationalizing didn’t seem to work, as he was still nervous. All he could do was imagine TJ, sitting down and opening up his phone, reading Cyrus’ text. In almost every version he ended up disgusted, but in rare ones he responded with _I like you too, Cyrus! Of course I do! I always have! Please be my boyfriend now!_

But that thought wasn’t enough to keep Cyrus calm. If that was his actual reaction, he would’ve responded by now. _Unless he’s busy,_ Cyrus reminded himself. He checked his phone again, opening and closing apps as if that would kill enough time for TJ to see it.

He ended up back in his messages, seeing that it had almost been an hour since he texted TJ. He exhaled and scrolled up, starting to reread texts between the two.

He observed how they interact with each other. TJ invites Cyrus to all of his basketball games, to the movies with him, to The Spoon, to anywhere and everywhere. He tells him things that he doesn’t tell anyone else, and vice versa. He sends him memes and sleepy messages at two in the morning. Cyrus always thought that meant his feelings could be reciprocated, but maybe he was just reading too much into it again.

“Come on,” Cyrus pulled at his screen with his thumb as if that would make a message suddenly appear. “Come _on._ ”

Nothing. Nothing, nothing, nothing.

Not even some heterosexual meme or uninterested emoji. Not like that’s how TJ would turn someone down, but Cyrus wants anything right now.

Cyrus has seen TJ turn people down a few times before. Specifically, girls. He would always gently tell them that he wasn’t interested and then he’d carry on. He would do the same for Cyrus, right? It isn’t different because he’s a boy, right?

Cyrus sighed. It _could_ be different. Why did he even bother saying anything? He doesn’t know if TJ is gay or if he likes boys at all.

As he was contemplating TJ’s possible heterosexuality, he saw a photo in their messages. It was of Cyrus asleep on TJ’s shoulder. He read the message that was sent with it:

_here’s the photo from earlier. again, sorry for taking ur picture while u slept!_

He remembers that day. He was so tired after his horrendous dance class that he crashed on TJ while they were hanging out. It was a complete accident, and he was very apologetic, but TJ said it was okay because he got a photo.

Cyrus felt like crying. Was he going to lose all of this because of one dumb text? All of their time spent together studying the subjects that they love and ignoring the ones they don’t, all of the shared glances when Cyrus’ parents get too talkative at dinner, all of the phone calls late at night because TJ can’t sleep, all of the times they conveniently fall asleep on each other. He’ll lose this entire friendship over his ridiculous feelings.

 _I should’ve pushed them down again,_ he thought, _I should’ve ignored them until it seemed like they were gone. I can’t lose him over this._

He started typing a new message.

 _Sorry, someone took my phone._ No, he sent the first text too long ago for that to be believable. He deleted it.

 _Haha SIKE._ Everyone knows Cyrus would never put his feelings on the line as a joke. Delete.

 _As like my best friend. That sounded weird before agsdjdhs._ That somehow looked gayer than before. Delete delete delete.

Cyrus wanted to scream. He has no way out of this.

 _Never mind._ He stared at it. It’s simple, almost passive aggressive. But maybe it would give him enough time to come up with a better excuse later.

But before he could send or delete it, he heard a small tap on his window. He looked over with bleary eyes and saw nothing.

He looked at his phone again before hearing a second tap. And a third. And a fourth. He got up and walked over to his window to find the source.

He lightly gasped upon seeing TJ, standing in his front yard holding… Very small rocks. Not a boombox, but it’ll do.

He opened up his window. “TJ? What are you doing down there?”

“Trying… To get your… Attention,” TJ heaved. It seemed like he didn’t have any breath left. “Please let me in.”

“Oh, right,” Cyrus held up his finger. “One second.”

He jogged downstairs, stopping at the bathroom to fix his hair quickly, and opened up the door for TJ.

“I…” TJ was still trying to catch his breath. “I got your text.”

He looked at the floor. “Oh.”

“I read it as soon as basketball practice ended,” TJ explained. “But when I went to respond, my phone died. So I ran all the way here—”

Cyrus did a double take. “You what? You ran all the way to my house?”

“Well, ran, jogged, pretty similar things,” he shrugged. “It all takes a lot out of you.”

“TJ, that was the dumbest idea you’ve ever had,” Cyrus scolded him, completely ignoring the text-based event that preceded this moment. “You should’ve gone home and charged your phone.”

“Okay, that’s fair. But I had to come and see you in person to tell you,” TJ moved closer to him. “I like you too.”

Cyrus could swear that his heart stopped. TJ likes him. TJ ran all the way to his house from the school to tell him that he likes him.

“I like you too,” he blurted. “You—you already said that.”

TJ giggled. “Yeah, I did.”

“So…” Cyrus started. “What now?”

“You could invite me inside,” TJ said, making Cyrus realize that he’d been standing in his doorway the whole time. “I really need some water.”

“Oh god, I’m so sorry, come in,” he said quickly, grabbing TJ’s hand and leading him inside. And in what felt like a bold move to him, he didn’t let go.

The pair walked into the kitchen together, Cyrus taking his hand back to get the other boy some water.

TJ took it. “Thank you.”

“No problem,” Cyrus sat down on a stool. “Just don’t do that again.”

“I won’t, I promise,” TJ raised his glass. “But it was worth it.”

Cyrus blushed. “You know… While you were running to my house, I was laying on my bed thinking about how you couldn’t possibly like me.”

“What? Cyrus, that’s crazy,” he used his name. This is serious. “Of course I like you. You’re amazing, and adorable. And funny. Did I mention adorable?”

“Yes, once or twice,” he laughed.

“See, you’re hilarious,” TJ moved directly in front of the stool. “How could I not like you?”

“Well, I could give you a lot of reasons. But you know what?” He wrapped his arms around TJ. “Never mind.”


End file.
